title: Training communication partners of people with severe traumatic brain injury improves everyday conversations: a multicenter single blind clinical trial.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine effectiveness of communication training for partners of people with severe traumatic brain injury.
  
  
  METHODS
  Three arm non-randomized controlled trial comparing communication partner training (JOINT) with individual treatment (TBI SOLO) and a waitlist control group with 6 month follow-up.
  
  
  METHODS
  Forty-four outpatients with severe chronic traumatic brain injuries were recruited.
  
  
  METHODS
  Ten-week conversational skills treatment program encompassing weekly group and individual sessions for both treatment groups. The JOINT condition focused on both the partner and the person with traumatic brain injury while the TBI SOLO condition focused on the individual with TBI only.
  
  
  METHODS
  Primary outcomes were blind ratings of the person with traumatic brain injury's level of participation during conversation on the Measure of Participation in Communication Adapted Kagan scales.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Communication partner training improved conversational performance relative to training the person with traumatic brain injury alone and a waitlist control group on the primary outcome measures. Results were maintained at six months post-training.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Training communication partners of people with chronic severe traumatic brain injury was more efficacious than training the person with traumatic brain injury alone. The Adapted Kagan scales proved to be a robust and sensitive outcome measure for a conversational skills training program.
authors.affiliation: Speech Pathology, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Sydney, Australia. leanne.togher@sydney.edu.au
authors.forename: Leanne
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Togher
authors.forename: Skye
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: McDonald
authors.forename: Robyn
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tate
authors.forename: Emma
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Power
authors.forename: Rachael
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Rietdijk
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001930:Brain Injuries / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004493:Education; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007398:Interpersonal Relations; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016037:Single-Blind Method; D013064:Speech Disorders / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D014705:Verbal Behavior; D055815:Young Adult